First Viennese reading theater and second impromptu theater
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The First Viennese Reading Theater and Second Impromptu Theater (abbreviated 1.WLT ) is an association that has set itself the task of presenting above all forgotten, rarely or rarely performed literature. It does not have a fixed reading location, but tries to provide low-threshold access to literature by changing performance locations with free admission. It does not have a permanent ensemble, but is open to the participation of as many people interested in literature as possible. The term is to be distinguished from the reading stages , in which a fixed group of authors present their own new texts.
Definition of terms
The term “reading theater” cannot be found in German or theater studies reference works. Under readers' theater , the dramatic presentation and other texts is broadly understood in public. The transition from reading to staged reading and dramatic representation is fluid. The reading theater concentrates the audience on the word and usually dispenses with the setting, props and costume. In some reading performances (Rolf Schwendter) music is used. Reading theater sees itself as the presentation of texts of various kinds. Not only theater plays are read, but also poetry, prose, radio plays, letters, collages, texts on topics such as peace, on international Bloomsday or on literary and political anniversaries.
history
The First Viennese Reading Theater and Second Impromptu Theater goes back to an idea by Brigitte Gutenbrunner and was founded in 1990 by Manfred Chobot , Brigitte Gutenbrunner, Evelyn Holloway, Ottwald John, Hansjörg Liebscher, Günther Nenning and Rolf Schwendter .
precursor
Direct forerunners are the “Informal Group Vienna” (1959–1971) and the “Open Living Room Kassel” (since 1982). Rolf Schwendter writes in his monograph "Reading Theater":
“A laborious activity, structurally comparable to gold panning, to find out a few sentences (or grains of gold) from thousands of pages of theater history that deal with reading theater, no matter how marginally, or at least with some aspects of the preconditions or neighborhoods this."
Schwendter believes it is likely that the first reading performances took place in ancient times in the vicinity of the philosopher Seneca . Readings of classical pieces in schools and monasteries of the Middle Ages should also be mentioned. Many of the plays were conceived as reading dramas . In the modern sense, the readings in the literary salons of the Viennese Biedermeier period should be mentioned, in which there was cooperation between professional actors and laypeople - as is also the case with the First Vienna Reading Theater. Staged readings were often used to preview plays in a small circle or to circumvent censorship in the Metternich era . There were also reading performances in the context of Dadaism . The recitation evenings by Karl Kraus , who read entire pieces by Shakespeare , Johann Nestroy , Ferdinand Raimund and Jacques Offenbach in 700 lectures , as well as the reading evenings by Helmut Qualtinger , who played pieces by Nestroy and The Last Days of Mankind by Kraus, can also be regarded as precursors also read all roles. Staged readings by professional actors often take place. Representing were Nicole Haase called and Bern Kebelmann. Since the beginning of the 1990s, reading theaters have established themselves in several German cities such as Bremen and Hamburg, but they do not have the regularity and frequency of reading performances of the First Vienna Reading Theater. Reading theater also exists in the university context and increasingly as reading activity in schools, for example the work of Irene Brückler or the “First Berlin Reading Theater for Children”.
organization structure
The current organizational matters of the 1st WLT are taken care of by the "three-person committee" (association board), which currently (as of April 2018) consists of Jakub Kavin, Susanna C. Schwarz-Aschner and Gabriele Stöger. The “Advisory Board” consists of people who have “been responsible” (organized) for at least two reading evenings or who have read more than 20 times; Another condition is active participation in club life (e.g. participation in the monthly program broadcasts, advisory board meetings ...). The main task of the advisory board is to make a selection from the pieces submitted annually by the members for subsidization (see below). An advisory board meeting takes place twice a year. a. the agenda items for the general assembly are prepared.
The Erste Wiener Lesetheater relies on active participation and the greatest possible decentralization of tasks and completely dispenses with the principle of directorship. Each evening is organized by a person in charge who selects the text, determines the cast, selects the reading location, looks after the evening on site and pays any fees and settles donations. The program is created through suggestions from activists. Anyone can propose literary works or theme nights. The suggestions are collected and presented to the advisory board once a year for approval and ranking. The projects with the highest acceptance are subsidized, with all contributors receiving the same amount. In addition, projects can be carried out at any time free of charge and announced in the monthly program broadcast "Reading theater reading characters".
There are two tendencies within the First Vienna Reading Theater: “spontaneous reading performances” without rehearsals, in which the participants in extreme cases do not meet until the evening of the reading; on the other hand, there are “rehearsal groups” that deal with the text together before the performance. Usually a reading takes place once, under certain conditions repetitions are possible. The 1st WLT works with a number of Austrian cultural institutions, such as literary houses , Institut Français , Graz Authors' Assembly , Austrian Society for Literature , Theodor Kramer Society , Collegium Hungaricum or the Czech Center .
program
Due to the diversity of the interests of those who propose readings (those responsible), the program of the First Vienna Reading Theater is broad. It includes the reading of (theater) texts by well-known and unknown as well as young authors that are rarely or rarely performed in Vienna. Projects organized as part of the 1st WLT must not have been performed in Viennese theaters in the past three years. A special focus is on anti-fascist and exile literature . Texts by Bert Brecht , Johann Nepomuk Nestroy , Theodor Kramer , Helmut Qualtinger , Joe Berger and HC Artmann were read most often . Another focus is the literature by and about women , there is a women’s group within the 1st WLT (women read women). Literary collages on current and political topics are also an integral part of the program. In addition, the 1st WLT is one of the few Viennese institutions in which contemporary critical dialect literature is presented in front of an audience.
The apartment readings held twice a year by the Eichler family remind of the time of the literary salons. Other annual readings include the “Easter Walk” along literary stations in a different Viennese district or the “Garden Reading Festival” in summer and the year-end reading. So-called “socials”, on the other hand, are social events at which the reading theater members meet without holding a reading performance. First and foremost, the joint monthly program broadcast should be mentioned here, and since the threatened cut in subsidies in 2007 there has been a benefit flea market at irregular intervals. In reading marathons , excerpts from Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities , Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time , James Joyce ' Ulysses or Karl Kraus ' The Last Days of Mankind were read in full. In the “Blue Hour” reading series, the reading theater members' favorite literature on a specific motto can be heard once a month. Once a year there is a "Poet Night", the only opportunity at which authors who are active in the 1st WLT present their own texts. Occasionally the first Viennese reading theater appears as the “second Viennese impromptu theater”.
Contributors and visitors
Between 1990 and July 2018, 2,450 reading performances took place, in which between 150 and 250 different readers take part each year (as of July 2018). The participants each consist of a third of authors, actors and amateurs interested in literature. The spectrum ranges from actors (like Bruno Thost and Erwin Leder ) to writers (like Gert Jonke , Gerald Jatzek and Richard Weihs ) to students.
Regular contributors (sorted by number of previous contributions - from 821 to 163): Rolf Schwendter (†), Eva Fillipp, Franz Hütterer (†), Helga Golinger, Fritz Steppat (†), Ottwald John, Ilse M. Aschner (†) , Manfred Loydolt, Andrea Pauli, Susanna C. Schwarz-Aschner, Hahnrei Wolf Käfer, Thomas Macek-Neumeister, Alexander Marcks, Helmuth Stradal (†)
There are also “special guests” such as Josef Haslinger , Josef Hader , Emmy Werner , Wolfgang Bauer , Peter Kreisky , Antonio Fian , Hermes Phettberg , Kurt Palm , Friederike Mayröcker or Renate Welsh and many more.
The First Wiener Lesetheater currently organizes around 100 reading performances a year. Since the first WRLT was founded, over 91,000 visitors have been counted.
Reading places
Reading performances by the First Vienna Reading Theater take place around ten times a year in the Wiener Literaturhaus. The readings in Viennese coffee houses such as “ Café Prückel ” or “ Café Korb ” are complemented by those in alternative spaces such as “Café Siebenstern”, “Galerie Heinrich” or “reading !! ing room”. There are also readings in schools and libraries, at open-air events or as part of the Vienna District Festival , and occasionally even in small theaters. In summer, readings are held every Monday in the guest garden of the “Weinhaus Sittl”, a classic Viennese inn, which is very popular with the public. There have been guest appearances in London, Berlin, Kassel, Nuremberg and Dortmund, among others.
Quote
The Viennese City Councilor for Culture Andreas Mailath-Pokorny reversed a subsidy cut in 2007 and wrote about the First Viennese Reading Theater:
“I am pleased that we are making an important contribution to the existence of this unique institution in Vienna. This form of broad literature care and a very democratic and open access to theater and literature are absolutely worthy of funding. "
literature
- Rolf Schwendter: Reading theater . Edition down the Danube, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-901233-20-2
- Rolf Schwendter: Subcultural Vienna. The informal group . Promedia, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-85371-215-0
Web links
- lesetheater.at: Official website
- Radio FRO : radio interview with Rolf Schwendter
- Radio Orange 94.0 : The first Viennese reading theater is a live guest in the studio , series: life actually - actually living, 10 July 2010
- University of Vienna : Review of Schwendter's monograph , by Brigitte Marschall
- Unique (newspaper of the ÖH Uni Wien): Article on the occasion of the subsidy cut
Individual evidence
- ^ Rolf Schwendter: Lesetheater, p. 44
- ^ Rolf Schwendter: Lesetheater, pp. 36–38
- ^ Rolf Schwendter: Reading theater, p. 23f
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.lesetheater.de/index.php?seite=tabelle1
- ^ Rolf Schwendter: Lesetheater, pp. 67–89
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
